French Fry Diary 722: Club House Diner

I don't go to the Club House Diner often, unfortunately when I have gone, it's after a funeral, as there's a nearby cemetery. The Bride however frequents it quite often with her gaming friends. When they wanted to throw us a going away party, it was at the Club House Diner in Bensalem PA.

Part of moving from the old place and moving to a new place is purging things that are no longer needed. I had a lot of gaming stuff I was getting rid of. I had previously given a ton of gaming books to this particular group of friends, and this night brought my HeroClix collection to get rid of, um, I mean, give away as party favors. So as the fight for plastic crack began, I ordered.

I had wanted onion rings, and while they were pretty big, they also looked dry and heat lamped so I passed on them. I also passed on the fries, which were heat lamped natural cuts. Instead I ordered some French toast and some breakfast potatoes. On the latter, I should have thought better of it.

I got cold breakfast potatoes, smashed on the griddle and folded like an omelet. They were quite cold by the time I got them, and they did not reheat well at all. Despite the bad food, this was a good time, we will miss our friends, and lots of toys got new homes. Thanks, everyone!

French Fry Diary 721: Foodies, Parx Casino 2016

I had kinda promised I'd never come back to Foodies again, but trapped at Parx Casino in Bensalem PA, with Chickie's & Pete's closed due to a sporting event, and the promise of Foodies being completely redone, I gave it a second chance.

Now there's an Earl of Sandwich and Bambu Noodle House there, and of course, Foodies. Looking at the menus for the other two places and then the average selection at Foodies - I had to wonder why it was called that. Foodies is apparently not for foodies.

The fries were heat lamped natural cuts, but at least they didn't have any foreign debris as they did last time. They tasted like they had been under a heat lamp for quite some time, even though all food made to order as promised on a sign by the ordering station. I really wish I had gotten chips.

The more these fries cooled off, the less appetizing they became. I ended up tossing more than half of them out. This was not much better than my last foray into Foodies. Maybe I should have tried the onion rings, but then again, I thought that might have been pushing my luck… Not recommended.

French Fry Diary 657: Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen

On our way to Florida for a much-deserved vacation, we arrived at Philadelphia International Airport early, and had enough time for a quick breakfast. Choices are limited, although places one wouldn’t expect to be open for breakfast were. Case in point - Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen.

They actually had a nice selection of breakfast foods, most of them in a sandwich, wrap, or omelet, so I ordered a la carte. I had a choice between plank-like hash browns (like McDonald's, but as with the ones on the Disney Cruise, vastly inferior) and breakfast potato chunks. Because they looked good, I went with the chunks, and bacon, because, well, bacon.

These were heat lamp potatoes in the worst way. When I say 'heat lamp,' I mean like they were under a heat lamp for a while. Yuck. They had red peppers, which was a plus, but were also only warm, looked old, felt dry, tasted stale. They were just not good at all. The image may look good but I assure they were not.

Of course they also gave me a huge serving of bacon, which was perfect and awesome. It's been a long time since I've had bacon this good. That's four stars for the bacon, but none for the potatoes. Also on the good side, they had Orange Crush, which is always great, even for breakfast.

For the record, in its traditional menu, which is only lunch and dinner, they don't seem to have the favorite fried food. Just sayin'.

French Fry Diary 566: Church's Chicken

Church's Chicken is the fourth largest chicken fast food chain after KFC, Chick-fil-A, and former partner Popeyes. They are currently often co-franchised with White Castle, which is what their fries most resemble. Most folks only know two things about Church's, and neither is very nice. One, that they are mostly located in lower class minority areas - not true, and two, that the Ku Klux Klan owns them and they are slowly poisoning minorities - also not true, Snopes even says so.

The Church's I visited was quite small, had a tiny eating area, and so I went through the drive-thru. There seemed to be much contention over my order, as if they didn't hear it, record it, or cook it. With only two customers inside eating, two employees working the store, and no one in the drive-thru but me, I had a good fifteen to twenty minute wait for just fries and a soda.

I ordered the large fry, not realizing how big large actually was. The large fry order is a whole box of them, making the previously thought $2.79 price actually a pretty fair bargain. The French fries themselves, as I said above, are much the same as at White Castle. These are standard crinkle cuts, deep fried, and quite probably had spent some time under a heat lamp for a while. The fries were a bit too crispy/crunchy for my tastes, but that might be because of their time in heat lamp prison. Because of that, reheating them at home later was just not possible either in the oven or microwave.

Also notable is the side menu at Church's that includes fried okra and mashed potatoes. Maybe next time. As I wrote this review in the car (because I went through the drive-thru), I have to mention that Church's mobile phone website is nigh impossible to navigate. Many details had to be filled in at home later. Someone needs to call IT.

This was not a great visit, perhaps a second chance is in order, but not for a while.

French Fry Diary 551: Fried Rice Potatoes

I was in Shop-Rite picking up a few items for dinner and snacks while we were buried in one of the big snow storms a few days back, when something in the fresh and hot Chinese buffet section (Asian Chef by Mikado, according to the receipt attached) of the store caught my eye. Fried Rice Potatoes.

There, amongst a couple different varieties of chicken, was a serving pan of thick potato chunks cut crinkle cut style, looking similar to Nathan's fries, with pepper chips, sitting under a heat lamp and a sign that read 'Fried Rice Potatoes.' There was no rice involved, and neither the server nor Google were much help so I don't know where the name was derived from, or even if it was a typo.

So I scooped up some honey chicken, some teriyaki chicken, and a healthy portion of the fried rice potatoes and headed home, anxiously waiting to reheat and enjoy this treat for later.

When I got home I reheated two ways, microwave and baked in the oven. As might be expected, the baked food was better. The potatoes had a solid baked potato vibe plus a kick from whatever they were marinating in, very tasty. The chicken wasn't bad either. I will definitely be getting this again.

French Fry Diary 526: Trattoria Cafe, Holiday Inn

This was the first time we had stayed off property on a trip to Walt Disney World, and in truth, it was only the first stop on a lengthy but sweet vacation. While The Bride did her charity thing with Give Kids the World, we stayed at the Holiday Inn, Main Gate East, in the midst of an amusement complex.

We were across the street from not only a Red Lobster, but also a huge rainbow lighted tower that we could see from quite some ways away before we arrived. That would be the world's tallest SkyCoaster at Fun Spot, for those wondering.

The first morning, after a hellacious night of delays and driving aimlessly while the GPS was trying to find its way, I went to breakfast. In the Trattoria Cafe/Food Court there was a choice between Continental Breakfast and the Complete Breakfast. Anyone who travels often knows that Continental is code for cereal and do it yourself toast. I went for the Complete with hot food, 'cause you know, I wanted breakfast potatoes.

In this case, the breakfast potatoes were large diced natural cut potatoes. They were nicely golden brown though not crispy or crunchy as they might appear, but soft and succulent, with a slightly hot seasoning.

The problem was, while they were fried, and probably delicious while hot, these were only just warm, and that from the buffet style heat lamps that were on them. The good news is that they were buffet style, and seconds were hotter.

The bacon was good (but then again when is bacon not good?), and the waffle station provided a hot breakfast treat. All in all, not a bad breakfast. On a morning where I was not feeling my best after some rough travel, it was enjoyable.

French Fry Diary 484: The Wawa Hash Brown 2013

Little has changed about the Wawa breakfast hash brown since the last time I reviewed it, one of my first actual reviews for this blog. While Wawa breakfast has expanded quite a bit and their ordering system for both breakfast and the entire deli area has become computerized and cutting edge, their hash brown remains pretty bad.

The Wawa hash brown is probably frozen and heated via toaster oven then heat lamp for the better part of the day. And yeah, it tastes as good as that sounds. They are worse than the similar planks of processed potato I dislike in Disney and on their Cruise, but also nowhere near the quality of McDonald's Hash Browns. Also note in the image that sometimes, it's not even a perfect rectangle.

It's bland for the most part but it has a bit of a kick more than McD's, possibly it's the onion powder. There is still an awful aftertaste from them. I had one in 2009, I guess one every three years is enough for me.

French Fry Diary 402: Pepper Market, Coronado Springs Resort

I remember this place from my previous stay at Coronado Springs in Walt Disney World for one main reason. The Pepper Market is guarded by a creepy giant pink rabbit. Oh yeah, it looks harmless now, but just wait until you go to sleep.

Pepper Market is at best peculiar. It's a sit down restaurant that doesn't count as such on the Disney Dining Plan, and if you argue or question, they will haggle with you. No, really, this happened. Twice. The ordering and paying methods inside the realm of the giant pink bunny are more than a little confusing. You get tickets from each food station you stop at and then it's totaled at the end of the meal, or the start of the meal, depending. See what I mean by confusing?

And the napkin is a dishtowel. No, seriously, it's a dishtowel. A paper napkin would be both so much more useful, and really, a whole lot less icky.

When I figured out how the place worked, I ordered my usual. The burger was very good, big and thick, and chargrilled while I watched. The woman next to me, with the Fargo accent, was having trouble figuring out the system and I tried my best to help her, but she just couldn't be satisfied. As the cook heard everything she was saying, I have to wonder how her burger tasted.

The burger came with French fries. They were deep-fried shoestrings, probably from the grocer's freezer, and worst of all, they were sitting under a heat lamp for who knows how long. I was not enthused. Luckily I got a fresh batch, and I was amazed to see them toss salted in a bowl (just like Belgian frites!) as they made their way to my plate. That and the huge serving saved them in my eyes. They were hot, crisp and tasty. I even sandwiched some.

The Bride had heard bad reviews of the Pepper Market, and passed on coming with me. From what I saw, I can believe it had bad reviews, but my personal experience that night was very good. I know Ms. Fargo was less than happy, but I did all right with my dinner.

French Fry Diary 333: York Steak House

I have another flashback for you all today. The York Steak House was a chain restaurant back in the 1970s and 80s, primarily in mall locations, and that eventually closed its doors in 1989.

The York Steak House that I remember most was the one in the Echelon Mall. It stood out among other mall restaurants in that pre-food court age in that it was open past regular mall hours. So if you wanted a late dinner after 9:30 PM or just regular dinner on a Sunday after five, and didn't (or couldn't) leave the mall, York was your choice.

York was a cut above fast food, and a sit-down restaurant, so for a high schooler with a mall job, a dinner there was a 'dress nice' date. It ran cafeteria style, similar to the Rustler Steak House of the time, or the later Ponderosa. You picked your meal and paid at the cash register at the end of the line, and a waitress brought out your hot food.

For potato offerings, you could get a baked potato, for which York would charge you extra for butter or sour cream, or you could get steak fries. Both had the vibe of being under heat lamps a bit too long. The steaks as I recall weren't bad.

Does anyone else out there remember the York Steak House?

French Fry Diary 134: Loews AMC Cinema, Cherry Hill NJ

I hate the Loews AMC Cinema in Cherry Hill. I hate them. I have talked about this more than once on my Welcome to Hell pop culture blog. But unfortunately, sometimes, it's the only place to go to see a certain film, or a film in IMAX or digital 3-D or both. In those times I relent, grumble and take my place in line at the most hated of all movie theaters.

If it's any consolation, it's a movie theater that serves the favorite fried food, so why not kill two birds with one grumbling stone. I got two orders of fries, one with cheese, one without, a regular Icee and a small Coke. That was a twenty-dollar bill. Not counting the movie tickets, or even candy or even a hot dog - that was twenty right there. Then there was the size of the drinks. The counterperson insisted they were small. My jaw is still on the floor, but for the price that Coke better be damned big.

The fries came in cups with plastic forks (which were useless in the dark). The wait time for these fries was about ten minutes, which was weird because they tasted like they were only under a heat lamp for a while instead of fresh from a fryer. One can't see where they come from so there's no way to know which it is.

These natural cut curly fries are either overdone or underdone, and no in between, and fairly greasy. The cheese had an extra spicy kick that was nice at first but became a nasty aftertaste. And they got cold rather quickly. This was not a good fry experience and it got worse.

It's a good thing these Loews fries are meant to be eaten in the dark. After about twenty minutes into the feature I bit into a crunchy thing that was neither potato nor edible. I quickly spit it inconspicuously into a napkin. Good thing it was dark. I did not want to see what it was. Just glad I didn't eat it. That's it for me and fries at Loews. Not recommended.

French Fry Diary 128: Sage Diner for Breakfast

The Sage Diner Restaurant in Mount Laurel NJ has been a landmark on Route 73 for over twenty years. It might not have the history of some or be open 24/7 like most, but it is part of the long tradition of Jersey diners. Occasionally the family will get together for breakfast at the Sage, and this time I decided to write it up.

First things first, they seem to be completely incapable of not making bacon any way other than well done. And by well done, I mean little strips of brown charcoal. But, we're not here to discuss the bacon, we're here for the favorite fried food, and in the morning, it's home fries.

The home fries at the Sage Diner are scalloped and chopped up potatoes, interestingly, some with skins. Many places don't do that and it adds to the presentation a bit. They were not seasoned however, and they arrived at the table just barely warm. The potatoey bits were decent but the crispy ones were as crunchy as the bacon. Cook's day off maybe?

This was very disappointing as I have had good breakfast potatoes here before. In hindsight, on previous trips with good potatoes it was not during business hours so perhaps they were cooked fresh then. After this experience I suspect that these home fries were cooked much earlier, kept under a heat lamp and dispensed throughout the morning. Boo hiss.

As I didn't eat most of my serving I took it home. Much later, reheated and seasoned they weren't bad. I guess, just like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, they just needed a little bit of tender loving care. Or to be finished being cooked, and seasoned...